US2619684A

US2619684A - Car storage garage

Info

Publication number: US2619684A
Application number: US659618A
Authority: US
Inventors: Alexander S Elliott
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1946-04-04
Filing date: 1946-04-04
Publication date: 1952-12-02
Anticipated expiration: 1969-12-02

Description

Dec. 2, 1952 A. s. ELLIOTT CAR STORAGE GARAGE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed April 4, 1946 A.$. ELLIOTT.

Dec. 2, 1952 A. s. ELLIOTT CAR STORAGE GARAGE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed April 4, 1946 amm.

INVENTOR- A.S- ELLIOTT 3 ?MWZ f ATTYE Patented Dec. 2, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CAR STORAGE GARAGE Alexander S. Elliott, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application April 4, 1946, Serial No. 659,618

2 Claims.

1 This invention relates to improvements in car storage garages.

Many proposals have been made in respect to garages for the storage of a substantial number of cars. Proposals of this kind generally em- .body a plurality of storage floors and inclined runways running from floor to floor and which usually are of substantial width in order to permit the passage of cars going up and going down, while such runways are usually made substantially in the form of a'spiral so that the car travels in a circuitous route. This means that the space in a storage building allotted to runways must be double that which would be necessary if one single straight runway were possible, and where provision is made so that cars may use the same runway both going up and going down the width of the runways must be four times that of a single runway such as referred to forthe purposes of comparison. Consequently, very substantial space is taken up in such structures merely for runway purposes and consequently storage space available is reduced substantially in comparison to a structure which employed a single straight runway serving various floors of the building.

The present invention avoids the disadvantages of the prior art, such as generally referred to above, and provides a structure which may employ a single straight runway designed to lead cars to upper levels and a single straight runway either above or below the first mentioned runway and leading cars downwardly from the upper level. Alternatively, a portion of the runways adjacent to the exit may be offset from the other to provide separate entrance and exit as will later appear.

In prior garage constructions, it has been necessary to leave a substantial open space on the several storage floors in order to maneuver the cars into a position for parking in a manner that they, may be readily taken out when desired. According to the present invention, such space is materially reduced while cars parked on the various levels are readily accessible and may be easily taken out when desired.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a storage garage for cars which by reason of material savings in space will store a large number ofcars and a substantially greater number than is possible in storage buildings of equal size constructed according to proposals of the prior art.

A further object of the invention is to provide a particularly novel type of runway wherein the inlet runway and the outlet runway are disposed one above the other and may be provided as straight inclined runways leading to the various storage floors provided and permitting the location of said runways merely at one end of the building if desired.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a car storage structure wherein the free floor space provided on the various storage floors is reduced to a minimum while providing for the easy maneuvering of cars on said space as they are being parked in-readily accessible location.

The invention will be fully understood by reference to the following detailed specification taken in conjunctions with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective illustration of a rectangular garage building employing entrances and exits to upper and lower runways according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of one corner of the storage garage at the entrance and exit to and from the upper level showing the manner in which part of the upper runway is offset to permit separate entrance and exit in respect to the upper and lower runway.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse section taken through the section of the building shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary schematic perspective of a manner in which the cars may pass between upper storage floors and the inclined runways.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a car storage building according to the present invention having a lower storage floor l0 and upper storage floorsll and Ila. Entrance and exit to and from the upper storage floors II and Ha is obtained through the entrance door opening l2 and the exit door opening [3 which are disposed adjacent to one another. The exit door I3 communicates with the upper inclined runway I 4 While entrance doorway I2 communicates with the lower inclined runway I5. These runways are straight runways, one disposed directly above the other, and of a width practicably to accommodate the passage of the width of a car with necessary allowance for proper clearance. Since the entrance doorway I2 is disposed to one side of the exit doorway l3, runway I4 is offset as at [6 when it begins to approach the exit l3. Consequently, initially the runway 14 is beside and parallel to the entrance runway l5, and accessible through the exit doorway l3, until it swings to the left as shown in Figures 2 and 3 to overlie the entrance runway I throughout the remainder of its extent.

From the entrance doorway I2 access is obtained to the lower runway I5 by means of a downwardly inclined leadway I8 which slopes down to a lower or starting level I9 from which the lower runway inclines upwardly substantially parallel to the upper runway I4 throughout the remainder of its extent. Thus, by leading the cars downwardly on the slope I8 from entrance doorway I2 to the lower level I9 this provides for a spacing between the upper runway I4 and the lower runway I5 practicably to accommodate the height of a car and permitting these runways to run in the same line, one above the other, substantially parallel to one another, saving substantial space in the building. .Moreover, the offset portion of the runway I4, offset as at I6, will not in effect take up greater space in the building to the detriment of storage-or the like since it is, of course, necessary to provide for office space as well as other space such as storage of parts, etcetera, and the offset portion of the runway, while taking up some space which might be used for storage, on 'theotherhand provides sufiicientspace for the location of these important complements of a storage garage, which may include elevators, all located in the space I1.

As previously indicated, the runways I4 and I5 are chosen of a width practicably to accommodate the width of a car so that these runways therefore take up a minimum of space in the building. Preferably, it is proposed to cause the marginal portions of the floors of the runways to merge with the side walls thereof in aigraduated curve as indicated at 28 in Figure 2. Therefore, the marginal portions will serve to guide leadway I8 to the starting level I9 then up the runway I5 and may be stored on the first upper floor II by driving the car through the doorway 43 which communicates with the runway I5 as shown in Figure 4. A suitable graduated ramp 44 may be employed in conjunction with the doorway 43 to permit the car to be driven onto the level of floor I I, having regard to the upward slope of the runway I5. The car is then maneuvered on the floor and placed in its proper location. When it is desired to remove the car from the building, it is driven along the floor I I to the exit 4'5 and over the graduated ramp 46 to the runway I4 with which the exit 45 communicates. Exactly the same arrangement occurs in connection with the second floor Ila, wherein the inlet doorway 4T communicates with the lower runway I5 and the exit doorway 48 communicates with the upper runway I4. Obviously the same arrangement may be employed with the third and fourth floors, the only limitation being the length of the building which determines the length of the runways I4 and I5, and the height to which they may extend. Alternatively, of course, a second pair of runways in addition to runways I4 and I5 might be employed disposed above the latter, entrance and exit thereto being gained from floor IIa, if it were desired to produce a building of substantial height with a large number of storage floors while restricting the length of the building. However, in view of the fact that the proposal of the present invention will permit the storage of a much larger number of cars within a space smaller than that of the averagestorage garage employingv runways of double 'width for inlet and exit of cars and circling through the building, as referred to in the first of this application, it would not apparently be necessary to employ a large number of floors.

As acomparison between a storage building now employed and using runways of double width. for inlet and exit, circling through the buildings, the following general dimensions are given *of such a known structure, compared to one of the present invention. The known structure-has a'length of '20? 'feetand a width of 105 feet, employing four stories above -'the ground and two floors below the ground, providing eleven storage levels. This provides for the parking of 514 cars. The runways are approximately 30 feet in width to permit the passage of two cars going up and down and'also to permit the necessary room for passing on the turns, at which'point, substantial diificulty .is experienced even with runways of this width. The circling runway from floor to floor resultsin arunwayrequiring substantially one mile of travel to go from street level to the farthest point on the upperlevel and then back down to the street level.

As compared to this known structure'of conventional design, astructure l feet long and 72 feet in width (33 feet less than the conventional, as described-above) and'employing only two stories which are above ground will park .448 cars or, in other words, will more than double the capacity of the conventional'building described when taking into considerationthe'number of stories employed, as well as an area substantially less, while the complete runway travel to the top floor and back would be not more than 800 feet. These advantages are achieved by the novel arrangement of runway according tothe present inven- -tion--'and, as well, the-reduction in free maneuverin space on the floors compared to that'required 'in aflat floor. 7

The structure of the storage g'arageof the present invention can follow very conventional lines and is preferably made up of a superstructure of girders and trusses which may be produced in standard sections and bolted together such that the inner structural parts of the building can be dismantled and removed in sectionsto b'e'used in another location if for any reason it was necessary to abandon the original site. Accordingly, the site of the building may be changed with comparatively small loss, i. e., the loss of the outer shell or those parts of which could not be employed in the new building. This is impossible in a building of the conventional design referred to, employing runways circling through the buildmgs.

The foregoing will illustrate that I am able to provide a car storage garage which will house a substantially large number of cars comparatively to the space occupied and a substantially larger number of cars than conventional structures employing large areas.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a car storage garage adapted to serve a street or like predetermined level, the combination of: a plurality of car storage floors horizontally disposed but displaced vertically from the predetermined level and extending the entire length of the garage; two inclined parallel spaced apart runways serving all trafiic for all car storage floors, extendin from said predetermined level and disposed directly one above the other a distance sufiicient only to accommodate free passage of a car with slight additional headroom on the lower runway of the two, said runways being disposed in the direction of the length dimension of the garage and serving traffic moving in opposite directions to and from said storage floors but each handling trafiic in one direction only; means communicating each of said runways to each of said car storage floors; an opening in said garage through which a car may pass and located directly at the predetermined level; an inwardly and upwardly inclined leadway extending from said opening to said upper runway; an additional opening in said garage located at said predetermined level directly adjacent said first mentioned opening; and an additional leadway extending independently from said additional opening to said lower runway; said first mentioned leadway being offset with respect to said second mentioned leadway to provide clearance for vehicles on said second mentioned leadway.

2. A car storage garage as claimed in claim 1, wherein the leadway of the upper runway lies in the plane of the runway, and the leadway'of the lower runway is inclined downwardly from said predetermined level and then proceeds at a level below said predetermined level to a line of juncture with said lower runway.

ALEXANDER S. ELLIOTT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS